The training to improve, maintain or simply modify an athlete or sportsperson's performance for a skill-based sport (as opposed to training for power, strength, fitness or endurance, for example) essentially relies on repetition of specific movements in order to establish new neural pathways and secure them by assisting the myelination process. That is, by repeatedly performing an action consistently, a person's brain learns the movement and it becomes hard-wired into their neurological programming.
With advances in technology, the process of training athletes and sports people has become a science. In particular, beyond the modification of diet and training regimes adapted to specific sporting disciplines, climates and geographic locations, and tailored to achieve peak performance at specific sporting events, technology has permitted an increasingly close analysis of the bio-dynamics of sports. With the use of videography, 3D-modelling and devices to measure forces, pressure points and weight distribution, sports scientists are able to break down the complex motions which sports people and athletes perform when playing sport.
By breaking down a complex sporting action into smaller steps or parts of the motion, the effect of modifying each part of the motion can be assessed in terms of its effect on the overall action and resulting output. A training program can then be designed to target specific parts of the motion that the sportsperson or athlete may wish to improve, maintain or modify. For example, an athlete or sportsperson may wish to increase the speed of a swing at the point of impact, the accuracy and consistency of a shot, or to modify their existing action to reduce stress or pressure points, for example to accommodate or prevent an injury or other physical condition.
Even for the same sporting action, the requirements for any individual athlete or sportsperson are of course likely to be different, depending on each individual's size, strength, flexibility, range of motion and individual technique, as well as the desired outcome. In addition, in many sports, the same dominant action can be modified to produce a range of different shots or strokes, and the sportsperson or athlete may wish to follow a training program to improve or modify specific shots or strokes by focusing on a particular variation of the dominant action.
A golf swing is a sporting action that is particularly suited to such training methods, as the dominant action must be carried out repeatably and consistently in order to perform an accurate shot, and many different shot variations are possible based on the same dominant action. Because a golfer and the golf ball are static, a consistent swing can be practised that does not require the dynamic variation associated with sports where a moving ball has to be hit, requiring constant adjustment to the swing, stroke or strike in order to accommodate ongoing changes the sportsperson or athlete may need to make right up to the point of striking the ball. Nevertheless, there are many different factors which affect a sportsperson or athlete's golf swing, and using modern technology it is possible to break the swing into steps or stages and analyse each component of the swing separately. By training to improve, maintain or modify separate parts of a sportsperson or athlete's swing, the overall action can be trained to deliver a desired outcome.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a sports training aid suitable for use in training exercises to improve, maintain or modify one or more parts or aspects, or all, of a sporting action such as the swing, stroke or strike of an athlete or sportsperson, for sports involving a club, bat, racquet or the like.